PokiNometry

(Wow, why do i still have this blog!)

What am I saying, I'm trying to get myself to learn how to talk about food!

So earlier this week, I had heard about a new "sushi" restaurant opening in Anaheim (http://goo.gl/68zu9e) called PokiNometry.  A very clean and modern looking restaurant.  They have very simple decor, which makes the place look bigger than it already is.  OK, enough about that, especially since i'm not very good at describing decorations, lets talk about the menu.

Their whole menu is centered around serving Poki, which is just Hawaiian Poke served over rice, or even chips.  When you order, you first choose what type of base you want.  You have a choice between white or brown rice, salad, or tortilla chips for "nachos".  Next you choose what kind of fish you want: regular or spicy tuna, salmon, scallops, or yellow tail.  Then you finish it all off with you choice of sauce and toppings.

For my first meal there, I decided to try their Poki Nachos, which had tortilla chips, spicy tuna, crab meat, avocados, smelt eggs, and onions; which was topped with their spicy sauce.

All of the ingredients tasted very clean and fresh, especially the spicy tuna.  I wouldn't mind ordering this again, but after trying the other bowls first.  But, after my first bite (and this is the real reason I'm writing this post), I couldn't help but think of ways of "amending" this dish, in particular the chips.

What I was not particularly fond of was their use of store bought chips.  Now i'm not sure if this has to do with a specific brand or if this happens with all plain flavored tortilla chips, but these chips have this powdered seasoning coating surrounding each chip that is adding itself to the rest of the toppings.  So, instead of just tasting fish/topping and chips, you taste fish/toppings, chip seasoning, and chip with each bite.  These kind of chips might be good for making nachos and for dipping into salsa or other kinds of dip, but they don't seem right for this application.

In my opinion, I think that they should deep fry their own tortilla chips, seasoned with just salt or maybe a little Furikake, and use that for nachos.  Oh, and maybe top this off with a little wasabi aioli or some other kind of sauce......

Other than that, i'll probably come by again to try their Poki Bowls and Salad.

Bruschetta

(Hehe, it's been awhile, again)

So along with the 3 Way Ceviche, that i had to make back in April, I had a Bruschetta plate to make.  It consisted of:

• Grilled Crostinis
• Grilled Steak
• Granny Smith Apples
• Grilled Chicken
• Tomatoes made as a Traditional Bruschetta
• Bleu Cheese Spread and Pesto for dipping sauces

In my opinion, I thought it was a nice plate, but man, it was a lot of work to put together!

Well, see you again next post!  Nin nin!

Omake:

Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again: Turkey, Stuffing, Veggies, and Gravy.  And seeing how this is just another food blog on the internet, it's time for...My Thanksgiving Post!!!!

Now seeing how i work in a restaurant, I had to work on Thanksgiving,  So, invited my parents and sisters to my apartment on the Tuesday for our Thanksgiving Dinner.  Thanks to the free turkey i get from work, i only had to buy a few other ingredients.  Here was my menu:

Roasted Sage Turkey

That's a Sage Compound Butter under the Turkey skin

Rosemary Gravy

I boiled some of the Turkey Au Jus with a sprig of rosemary

Sauteed Veggies

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts, Corn, and Green Beans with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows

Sweet Potatoes tossed with some cinnamon and roasted in the oven with marshmallow.  (Note - forgot to add some allspice)

Dried Cranberry Stuffing

Used the crust from 2 loaves of wheat bread and dried cranberries to make this traditional stuffing.  also made with celery, onions, sage, thyme, parsley, and chicken stock.

Needless to say, my parents were very happy!  =)

Birthday Ceviche

Ooopsie, looks like i forgot to post something last week.  Oh well, i'll just have to do a double post for this week.

First of all, a guest was celebrating their birthday and had ordered a Chocolate Covered Strawberries amenity.  So, I made a special birthday plate with their amenity:

I know that writing "Happy Birthday" on a plate like that is a little old fashioned, but it's what we have at work.  

 With that out of the way, here is the real post:  Back in April of this year, we rolled out a new menu for the Spring/Summer season.  One of the new items we introduced was our Ceviche 3 Ways, which was served with Tortilla Chips:

The three ceviches, from left to right: Halibut Ceviche, Rock Shrimp Ceviche, and our Scallop Ceviche.  The Shrimp and Halibut ceviches were our more traditional ceviches with lime juice, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos  and cilantro.  The Scallop Ceviche also had the previous ingredients, but with the added bonus of pineapples, mangoes, and coconut milk.

Wings!!!!

So, back in late March, I didn't know a Buffalo Wild Wings had opened a branch over at The Outlets in Orange, CA.  After seeing the commercials, I finally decided to go try them out.

Now, I'm not gonna talk about the restaurant itself because that is not what I am here for.  But in case you don't know, Buffalo Wild Wings is a sports bar/restaurant.

I had ordered 12 wings and 2 kinds of sauces: Mango Habanero (left) and Honey BBQ (right).  I thought both sauces were good.  They were.nice and sweet with good flavor.  My only complaint had to do with the chicken itself: it was bland.  The chicken  doesn't taste like it has seasoned before (in a marinade or brine) or after (with some salt or seasoning) before tossing them in sauce.

Would I eat the wings at Buffalo Wild Wings again, I might.  It wouldn't be my top choice, but if a friend really wanted me to join them for some wings, i'll go.

So, it's been a while...

So, it has been well over a year since I wrote my first post for this blog.  My original intentions for this blog were to explore Filipino Foods' connection to Spanish Food/Culture.  But it seems that I never got around to writing even just the 1 article.

My 1st article would have been about the dish "Arroz Caldo".  I had taken pictures of the different steps to make a pot of Arroz Caldo.  But when it came to sitting down to do the research on Arroz Caldo, I just kept putting it off, and it just didn't get written.

This time, I think I'll try a different approach: I'll try writing about other foods that I make at work/home and encounter when I go out.  Hopefully this will lead me back to, my original intentions, Filipino Food.

Even though it's late, i'm suddenly in the mood for writing!  My first food related post shall be about:  Spicy Ahi Tobiko.
So back in March of 2012, our restaurant had a 3 (or 4) course secret menu that, to no surprise, was rarely ordered.  The part I had in this secret menu was in making the appetizer, Spicy Ahi Tobiko.  The idea behind  this appetizer was to have an Ahi tartar served sushi style.  I made sushi-style rice using Jasmine Rice, Seasoned Rice vinegar, and sugar.  I formed that into a small, bite-sized puck shape, and topped it with the Spicy Ahi Tobiko mix:

• Chopped Ahi
• Mayo
• Wasabi Tobiko
• Salt and pepper
• Sriracha
• Green Onions 
• Black Sesame Seeds

In case you were wondering, we stopped using this secret menu once we changed to our Summer menu.  So, as far as I know, I won't get into too much trouble for writing about this.  In case any of you were also wondering, yes I do have pictures of this appetizer:

I personally liked making them nice and spicy, but of course i would've gotten in trouble for it  XP

My Intro

Great, not another food blog.

Yes, this is going to be another food blog out in the vastness of the world wide blog-o-sphere.  This blog will not just be about how to make Filipino Food, but about some of the origins of Filipino Foods.  Before starting culinary school, many of the Filipino Foods that I had thought were originally Filipino, turned out to be a variation of a Spanish or Chinese dish, or just so happened to have a Spanish name.  For example, Filipino Adobo is meat cooked with soy sauce and vinegar, while Spanish Adobo is the word for "Sauce" or "Marinade" cooked with the meat.  I want to inform you, the readers, of those differences.  Plus, I will share some of my recipes to see how I make said dishes.  This is a blog that I have been meaning to write about since i finished my culinary school classes back in November of 2004.

Now for a little about myself.  Online, I either go by "scaloy", "s_caloy", or "super caloy".  I love Cooking and Eating Food.  But more than that I love Anime and Manga.  I collect lots of different dvds, manga, and other merchandise, and I take lot's of pictures of Cosplayers.  I have been attending Anime Expo since 1996 and Anime Los Angeles since 2005.  This blog will try to stay away from some of that stuff, unless I find something interesting in an Anime or Manga that is food related.

Now, I may not be able to write a post for this blog every week because of my obligations to work and my hobbies, but I will do my best to have something written.  To "test" each article/blog post, i will be submitting them to my friend's blog, for some helpful editing.  Then I will post them to this blog.

I am very excited to be able to finally start this and I hope you all enjoy.  Thank You!
-Carlo